She was all many hoped to be.

A beauty of fair skin and fair hair, tender caresses and a voice comparable to the lutes of the angels. She too had eyes of the ocean, dark and mysterious and wise and intelligent. She had a strong countenance, poise, and the inbred honor many coveted and desired.

There was a slip in her armor, a little hole - a pinhole if you will - right in the middle of the chest. This hole led to her heart, but even then, there were a series of locks in order to fully access it all. But her heart was a puzzle, designed for only a certain somebody of her choosing. I figured that out because I solved it. But I wasn't the one who was supposed to solve it. It wasn't my right.

In the shade of night, she was sorrowful.

Despite her light appearance in public, she seemed a different person come nighttime and I would follow the fair lady because I was worried - fair ladies shouldn't go out at night. Of course, I wasn't the one she wanted to solve the puzzle so I let her alone to her business, watching wherever she went a good distance away before silently escorting her back to her house. I watched till she drifted to sleep.

Of course I would never gossip about the fair lady, I was too busy being worried. And every night she would go somewhere and return in the wee hours of day. And every time she returned, she had a tremendous look of sorrow and longing. But when the sun rose and the lady was prim and proper, resigned and studious, the looks weren't the least bit visible. Still, as much as that reassured me, it was only temporary. The look come one sunrise, remained, and she would constantly wake sorrowful and teary-eyed. So now I had to bring it to myself to never leave her her out of my sight.

She was a puzzle.

Of the days that followed my horrendous revelation, the pinhole remained but her heart became more confused - the puzzle much more complicated then before. There were new little twists and turns, areas or doorknobs that lead to nowhere in particular, and certain sections of complete darkness where you had to tread further till light was restored. But, even after all that, I was not the one the lady wanted to be the one who solved the puzzle so I resumed as before, keeping my distance, watching and worrying.

It was important for a lady of her status to maintain appearances, and she suddenly began neglecting that. Her social obligations sooner were no more worth to her like a coin to millionaire. I was fearful. The puzzle too grew even more complex, springing little traps meant to keep out anyone else but the person she wanted to solve the puzzle. She kept a blind eye to me. It simply wasn't my right.

In the luminous sun, she was sickly.

There was grand talk about her and she fainted and was carried home. I followed and watched her rest as motionless as a corpse. But the fair lady was alive and well, only weak and needing of much rest. I was surprised as to how the news of her fainting spread like wildfire. Of course, I was angry but I daren't hurt the lady in her current state. Sometimes acts of reckless abandon never helped. Right then the puzzle gained another curious layer that, just like her armor, had that pinhole point of vulnerability.

In the nighttime, the lady stirred, looked at the clock and dressed for the nightly venture. As much as I wanted for her to stay and rest, I daren't interfere. She was pale as a ghost. Storms ravaged her once peaceful oceanic eyes, and her stature was similar to that of an old woman in need of a cane. The shawl she usually wore was askew, and her fair hair too was unkept and wild. There was anger or resignation on her face, but I knew she wanted to burst into tears and hide away. And again, I was not the one to solve the puzzle. It appears as though she had forsaken me all together but I kept on, trailing her in the shade, awaiting her return. It did not happen.

She was dead.

She who many wanted to be,
She who stood straight and tall,
She who looked upon others with fairness,
She who was birthed honorably,
She who was raised nobly,

She was dead.

And she died a woman in the dark, resigned to her fate. A supposed "fallen woman" because of her high birth. And even then, in those last moments, she kept her eyes averted from me - I, the only one who had the key to her suffocating heart. She passed away an ignorant woman.

Still, though she scorned me before death, I watch over the fair lady's grave and tend to it when the need arrives. And as her heart was a mystery to others, the news about her spread and was extinguished as quickly as one's cold breath in winter. Day and night, I tended to her grave. Day and night, I realized how her heart kept it's hold on me. Day and night, I reminded myself that I vowed never to leave her side.